Sunday, July 26, 2015

True Detective Church in Ruins S2E6 Review (Spoilers!): Well, I’ll Never get that Hour Back

What
a freaking mess. Usually I have find something redeeming in each episode. I can’t
think of anything good that came out of tonight, other than the fact Frank didn’t
piss me off. Everything they fixed last
week, they pissed away tonight. Maybe it’s because they have used different
directors this year as to why the show feels so unbalanced. Though most shows
use more than one director during a season. I’m glad there are only two
episodes left. If there were any more than that I would quit watching.

Ok
let’s start with the standoff between Frank and Ray. All of the great tension
they built up last episode was just brushed away with the anti-climactic
showdown. I’m surprised they didn’t hug when Ray walked out. I’m not sure what
I wanted to happen, but at least a little bit of a fight. I was hoping they
would end up antagonist for the rest of the season. I did like one thing from
this scene. The way one of the shots was framed with them sitting at the table.
It’s the only saving grace from the standoff. Hell, Frank even told Ray he was
one of his only friends. Great tension and story from the previous episode was completely
crapped on.

Then
Ray goes on a bender after he meets with the man who raped his wife. Instead of
Frank with the crappy lines, Ray joins in on the fun this week. Collin Farrell
did everything in his power to sell that scene, but it wasn’t enough. Farrell
has carried this show, but he couldn’t even save this crap-fest. Ray had a
weird scene with his son, and then went on his bender. The only purpose of his alcoholic
and cocaine filled night was to tell his ex-wife he no longer would contest
custody. The storyline with his ex-wife and son is good character development
for Ray. With so many characters and such a short season this took up valuable
episode time to advance the actual plot of the show. They should have used the
time more wisely.

We
see an ok scene with Ani and her sister about the party. The detectives then
meet up and go over the plan. Paul had nothing to do this week. His only
purpose was to serve as part of the assault team on the hooker party. I was looking forward to the party. I figured
it would be intense and it would advance the story. It advanced the story, but
there was no tension. The scene where Paul just happens to overhear the Russian
and the businessman talk about their plans is just freaking ludicrous. I’m all
for convenient plot timing, but this was way over the top. He then goes into
the study to grab all of the material they need for the investigation. HIP HIP
HOORAY! No great police investigation, he was just in the right place at the
right time.

Since
Paul found all the information in the study, there was no reason for Ani to go
into the party. The only reason the show had her do this was for us to learn
she was raped as a little girl. She gets drugged and then we see the
flashbacks, another great use of plot device! Big eye roll. She also magically
discovers her missing person and rescues her. Nothing but convenient timing for
everyone! Other than finding out Ani was raped, there was nothing good at the
party. Well, we did get to see her use her knife to great effect. We knew she
was great with her knife because we saw her practicing with it when her sister
came over. What a great coincidence that was huh?

You
know this episode was bad when Frank is the high point. Though I’m not sure
what the deal with the Mexicans is, or why they got brought back in. We got to
see some movement on Frank finding the video hard drive, but now he is going to
have to deal with these Mexicans other than the girl who probably had the tape.
We find out from her it was a cop who gave her the diamonds. I’m thinking it is
the other Vinci detective who was Ray’s boss. My theory of Ray and Frank racing
to find the hard drive is out since they kissed and made up. Frank actually was
the only person in the episode who did any detective work. We also saw him have a moral compass. I still
don’t like the character, and he did have one laughable line. The scratch that off
the bucket list, Mexican standoff with actual Mexicans. It wasn’t as crazy as
some of the other winners from this year, still bad though.

Only
two episodes left. I know I could just stop watching, but I’ve made it this
far, I might as well finish. I’m not sure I’ll watch next year. As good as the
first season was, this season has killed all hope I had for it going forward.
Maybe, just maybe the last two episodes will save the season, but I highly
doubt it. What did you think of tonight’s episode? Am I way off base, or was
this week as big a pile of crap as I thought it was?